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Topic: Games of 2017 (Read 1044 times)

You know the drill, short reviews of the games I played this year. Have to admit that I started a few but never completed. Some I felt like I was done with - others I felt need more time before I write about.

A game in long development, too bad that it still feels rushed. I have nothing to complain about the battlesystem, that one is great and luckily a main focus of the game except for chapter 13. They have also built a neat open world with gas stations, diners with stat boosts, camps for better stat boosts, Inns for tallying exp, monsters, resource points, hunts, dungeons and all that, but that is taken away from you in chapter 9 (although you can still return to the open world place later on). It seems like none of the original story remains in the game based on the trailers from 10-3 years ago, back then there was supposed to be some big thing about good and bad being perspectives, having 2 people facing off with good intents and some other stuff like that. Instead the game starts with roadtrip, moves on to disjointed story scenes with a lot of things happening outside the screen that is merely being referred afterwards and ends with "oh noes, darkness". By the time you have reached chapter 10 there is just about nothing left of the game except chapter 13, the rest is merely transit halls to get you there more or less (they actually even put you on a train to do this). I suppose I just feel a bit disappointed although I haven't been hyped for this for 5 years or so. FFXIII feels solid, FFXIII-2 seems like a nice mix of open world and linear, and LR FXIII seems like a really good game in comparison. This one reminds me more of FF type 0 with it's weird story telling and ending, that was a portable game given more space so I can understand their take on conveying the story but I just can't with this game. By the time the credits roll there are many things left to explain and I just felt a bit empty. Luckily the game is pretty short, so it's not the disaster ending that Type 0 and Xenoblade X left us with. But still weird,they just skipped ahead.Gameplaywise the game is really solid, the combat is both stylish and fun, the inn and camping system is also enjoyable, however the dungeons are kinda bland and the cost for a lot of skills are way too expensive. Having completed the game and some more it's a still difficult to earn 999 ap over and over again for the skills.

Metal Gear Solid V Phantom Pain

Okay so first hour of the game is confusing as hell, you wake up in a hospital and have to get out. Most of this prologue is scripted and some stuff happens that isn't explained to you. Following that is the open world Kabul where you can horse around or do the missions. Missions take place within a bordered area of the open world that spawns in troops and collectables and such. Problem is that I spent the first 5 hours or so sucking at the game, I've played my fair share of MGS but there is just something different with all this freedom, also the AI seems to be slightly more varied this time around and the guards shift at certain points. You collect money and resources to upgrade items and your mother base, however the AI also prepare better to fight you. If you do a lot of headshots the enemy outposts will start equipping helmets on their troops forcing you to go other ways. As with other open world games the story takes a beating for the gameplay, also after a while you know the two open world areas like the back of your hand which kinda lowers the excitement. By the end of the game I still didn't really get the point of the story, I get the story just fine but I didn't really get what they were trying to do. They seemed to have a plan, I hoped this would be like snake eater and the others where it takes place during an important time (this is the 80s) and weaves history with their story. But then they enter some resident evil parasite story - without the zombie mutations, mostly. And then for some reason it continues after the main story line to tell the story of Liquid Snake's rise to power or something? I'm not sure, it doesn't really make sense there, just feels rushed. They gave a sucky explanation for why Miller and Ocelot breaks up in the form of an audio file instead of making it matter. Christ, Miller is killed at the start of MGS but they act like its nothing.

Nights of azure

Made by some of the people behind Hyperdimension neptunia and other similar games and the people behind all the xx Warriors games. This one uses a similar battle system to the warriors games, where you have weak, strong and special attack buttons; and you compile combos by hitting weak and then strong attacks. Unlike the warriors game there are dungeons and you have party members(demon minions), the party members even have a functioning AI unlike some of the warriors games. Each time you leave for a dungeon a timer starts as well, so if you take too long you will be sent back to the city hub (see hotel) and have to try again. Luckily all areas are connected more or less so you can get where you want, or you can unlock doors that acts as starting points for your next try. Only your minions can level up by killing things, the main character need to spend "blood" to level up at a hub location. But blood is also used to create new minions and buy special items from dungeon merchants. When you kill enemies or finish the small tasks/quests you might get a servant fetish, these items are consumed to create a new minion or power up existing minions. Each "Deck" of minions consists of 4 different minions that can be ordered around by you and by the end of the game you can have 4 different decks to cycle through in the dungeons. What about the story? well the overall story is that two girls arrive on an island by orders of an organisation, one has been chosen to be "the saint" and the other to be her guardian. However they are childhood friends which makes it kinda annoying that the saint is expected to off herself to seal the dark lord of night for another couple of years. So the basic idea is like final fantasy x but with two girls, and no zanarkand and all that. The problem is that there is very little story happening in the actual game. Most of the time it's just "The leader said that the altar to sacrifice the saint might be in this place, go there and see". There are like 6 bosses that appear at the end of some of the dungeons which are basic MMORPG bosses mostly, don't stand in the fire and keep shaving away. There were like 2 bosses where going all in didn't work. Either way, enjoyable game, even if just for having something different and rather short where you collect stuff and level up minions over and over.

Resident evil revelations 2

Another part in the sidestory of Resident evil, not like the previous games were as well but still. Virus is loose, people are undead or crazy and tentacles. The director of the resident evil games said that he's always done trilogies, Res 1-3 and then 4-6. But this little trilogy is still kinda similar to those latest games. Claire and Moira find themselves stuck in a prison and have to get out, while in the second part of the story: Barry is looking for Claire and Moira who have been missing for a month. The game was released as episodes, I got some deluxe edition for PS4 that already had all that. So each episodes consists of a Claire part and a Barry part. Unlike previous games your partner is not a gun tooting one liner machine (although that last part is up for debate) but instead pretty helpless. Moira can use her flashlight to stun enemies and swing a crowbar. Natalya can sense enemies giving them an aura that can be seen through walls, and also point at things. So the coop in the campaign is very interesting and to be honest, fun. Other games that give both players the same tools mostly just end up as a contest of who's better, this is more teamwork. But don't worry, the famous Raid mode is in the game as well so you can team up to just shoot zombies up. The game is a good sequel to the previous one with scarse ammo, damage being something to keep a track on and finding upgrades for the few weapons you have. The BP system with points that can be spent into learning skills is different from RE6 thankfully but can get pretty grindy. Good game, got some nice atmosphere and thought behind it.

Star ocean Fate and faithlessness

Another game in the Star ocean series, stand alone like the rest but pays homage to previous games and the series kinks. The battle system has moved way from teleporting to a battle screen and instead let fights take place within a rounded section of where the enemy group runs around. Battle system remain the classic SO with long and short distance skills as well as the importance of guarding. There are also "SkillS" you can learn to improve your game experience, some of these are earned through the main story or through sidequests or even the quest board. Some of the better skills really improves the rest such as Bug monster drop rate which improves the chance for bug type monsters to drop material and items when defeated or the mining skill that increases your chance at multiple items when looting mining nodes. Your favorite past time activities are also still in the game, cooking, alchemy, crafting, synthesizing and so on to craft better gear, the shops are however slightly more generous with upgrades although prices are high.My main problem in the game is the cutscenes, most conversations and cutscenes just take place in the field like the battles. This kinda makes it unpersonal for me. What's the point in letting me walk around while the characters are talking? Later you can learn to make emotes but still, what's the point? Instead a lot of feeling is lost in the cutscenes since it's just npcs talking, without a controlled camera to show you what you should focus on and without facial expressions and all that it just kinda falls apart. When characters presented in the game eventually died I couldn't care less because the personality of that character was paper thin even after that time. Also, the dungeons are boring as hell. The game suffers from the FFXIII problem, corridors without puzzles. The story itself starts of at an underdeveloped planet with the main cast being "barbaric", but intergalactic space criminals come to the planet to do evil criminal things. Luckily there is also some good space cops who happen to know this and is investigating the space criminality - and they cross roads with the protagonist. This is all very simplified of course and the story evolves from there, but one main thing is a little girl known as Relia who seem to be important for both sides, but also to the main cast. But what is her secret? Won't spoil... but the game kinda lets you know some hours in.

PCOverwatch

It's not overrated. That could be my whole review to be honest. People say it's a good team fps and it is. Like some other games you can change your role which affects how you play the game, this is done either on the spawn point or upon dying. This adds a depth to strategy that tends to be lost in other games where it is more of "you made your bed" attitude. Of course, doing the best with what you have is a good premise as well but one that was avoided here. There is no buying of weapons, no assigning of skill points or such. Each character represents a role, complete with skills and specific weapons, the characters are unique meaning that you can't have three snipers on your team.You have tanks, support, attack and specialists that divide the characters neatly. If your team is unbalanced the game will hint at it on the character selection screen for you. Some characters have barriers to place, others have jetpacks, some can place traps and so on. There are also ultimate abilities that can be activated when a meter reaches full charge. They can really turn the game around and overpower the enemy team when used right. Because of this it might be wise to stick to a character when you die so you get the chance to use it. Maps are divided into 3 categories: Escort the payload, Defend vs attack and control the point. They are all similar in theory, get to a place, kill everyone and hold it long enough. And with a time limit no game lasts too long! Sometimes you don't play with good people and sometimes you do. Sometimes you really screw up and people call you things. Such is the fps life.

ARK scorched earth

Gonna be honest here, the scorched earth expansion is mostly good because it adds a different map than the Island that the game is played out on otherwise. The weather affects much more and a bunch of new creatures are added at the expense of others.Some resources are harder to get, other are easier. New craftables are added for the new material such as building adobe and so on.But other than that it's the same game (duh, dlc) which is nice. You still start of as the underdog and slowly craft and build your way up to the top of the food chain where you no longer need an axe but can use your chainsaw to cut down trees and harvest meat from dinos. Only this time you have some more things that can go wrong such as blackouts and sandstorms, but also rock golems and wyverns. But if you only want a different map from the island there are free dlc maps like The Center and Ragnarok, and with the steep price increase of the main game that might seem more attractive.

Reus

A sidescrolling god simulator game where you control different titans to pimp the world. The game is based around terraforming the desolate world into different biomes and then making sure that settlements can show up and thrive. You make water, create mountains and swamps and such that all add something different. The game itself is timed and will end after a set time, your progress up to that point will be converted to points that unlock new things for future games. So what can you do? And what is it that you unlock? Well, different titans can create different things. Animals, exotic animals, berriers, herbs, mushrooms, trees, ores, crystals and such. These are then harvested by nearby humans for their villages. Each of these become a different thing in the different biomes. Animals in a forest biome becomes hens, but in an ocean they become fish - different but the same usage in that sense you get food. What you unlock mostly is the ability to upgrade these differnet resources into other resources. In the end you place resources, villages sprout up, they ask for enough resources for a project and you rearrange the resources to make it suit them. When the quest is complete they get happy with you and you might get a mayor person that can ride on a titan's back to unlock additional skills. Game is fun and all but could've used another objective than just progress.

FFXIV Heavensward

It's a good game, however I didn't realize that you needed to complete the basic game's main campaign and all the scenarios added in following updates that leads up to the expansion. So that's a downside of having an MMO centered around a storyline.I ended up starting a new character of the new race, then I realized that the 3 new classes are unlocked in the expansion area and cannot be chosen from the start, in addition I need to do everything again on the new character and gave it up and continued on my character. I made it almost to the Heavensward content but couldn't find a group to one of the Primal fights which was kinda annoying. I will probably give it a go later, make sure that I get to the expansion content and everything. But another expansion is coming shortly, so I'm a bit behind. I'm still trying to find people to play with, maybe then I would have the patience to start a new character as well. Update, managed to trick my brother into playing with me and started a new character on a new server, at the time each character created got a "Road to 60" buff which increases all experience gained by like 200% this made it far more manageable to level up the crafting jobs (which should receive an exp buff to be honest) but it also means that you will level up without trying. I am currently at a main scenario quest with a level req of 27 but on lvl 42 on my main class. Also, Heavensward is now included into Stormblood when you buy it. So if you decide to start playing then you only need to buy one expansion.

Portal knight

This is like a Lego game but not lego. Everything is boxes, I think the term is voxels? You can mine stuff and place stuff. The game takes place on different "islands" that each represent a little planet in space limited to a biome and are connected by portals. To open a portal you need to defeat enemies or mine ore to get portal fragments and place them into the portal. It's a fun game and all with 3 bosses, online coop and split screen coop but then there is nothing left to do. Like all of these craft and stuff games (terria, minecraft, starbound) there is just nothing to do when you have the strongest gear and have defeated all the bosses. And it just wasn't that hard. Additional patches were released later that year which added vacant islands, your own canvas to build whatever you want and some more story related quests leading up to the bosses which was a great idea on the developer's part. It also added some more biomes and enemies which gave the game more variety.To be honest I approached this game like starbound. One island became my base of operations, I started building a castle but didn't complete it. I stored all my items in chests and had my crafting stations there. Then I traveled to another island, looked if it contained any resources I needed. Stripped it bare of all furniture and resources and then moved on. I am like a great galactic nomad capitalist/repo man just moving from place to place and exploiting it for my personal gain, leaving behind weird square shaped gashes in the once beautiful landscape and never returning.

Roguelands

A strange mix between a roguelike and a dungeon grinder. It's honestly more of a hardcore game than a roguelike. But then again I've never been good at genre definitions. You create a character, choose some stuff like stat growth and starting stats based on races. Then you start the game and can only visit the first area, you plow through it and reach the end. In the "score area" you have an upgrade reel to jump into which will give exp to the chosen gear type. Then you can either continue, perhaps to a new area or the same again, or simply return to your "ship". On your ship you have a storage chest, some shops to sell stuff, a smithy and an emblem forge. So basically you gather items of different tiers, break them down into emblems and use the emblems to craft items by combining 3 different emblems. Then you store all your items in your storage chest since you lose everything if you die. In the different areas you can also find portal charges that lets you choose that are as the starting area from the ship. Different areas have different tiers of resources that can be dropped or gathered, there are also chests that can drop abilites and accessories. In the end it's a fun game but the difficulty gap is something of a problem, if you do one of the storylines you can quickly move from gathering tier 2 materials to fighting a boss with several million hp who will 2 shot you to death. Especially the end bosses of the storylines are catastrophic when it comes to balance. There is also an arena to fight strong bosses and special uber bosses in the different areas. It's a fun game but it's very grindy and in the end you might just lose all of it. Also note that apparently that one guy who made the game is moving on to make another game so don't expect updates.

Overcooked

Old team 17 game remake. You are a cook, or a chef or just a cat and you work in a kitchen to make certain dishes. Each level has a gimmick and certain dishes to be made, there are no real surprises on that end. But sometimes there is an earthquake, or you're on a rocking ship that makes you stuff slide around, maybe a driving food truck that needs to be navigated? So there is always a challenge. The game allows up to 4 players which is nice, but also kinda crazy. But it's good to get some help with picking up ingredients, chopping ingredients, placing them in a cooking pot, taking them out before the kitchen catches fire, placing the food on plates, serving the food or even making the dishes. Lots of fun and some challenge all the way through. You can also play some versus maps which is cool, but frustrating. If you are playing versus 1vs1 you control two different chefs and can swap between them with a button. There is also some dlcs like festival and such which adds some new stages and sometimes dishes. But more of the same thing really.

Starcraft II Legacy of the void

Last expansion for starcraft 2. A good series from the first to this. The campaign now takes place in protoss world with protoss in focus and the end of the triology. Jim Raynor, Kerrigan and Artanis are set on defending the universe from the very evil galactic space force. As expected it is not working out as intended which allows you to undertake several different maps which slowly unlocks what units you have available at your disposal. It's a bit weird that the campaign still runs kinda different from the actual game though. The expansion added the mothership core unit to the nexus but it is completely absent in the campaign as well as the other new units. But still, it's challenging and all but I kinda feel like the protoss as a race isn't that interesting. In the end the game is well balanced when playing online but more units and such also mean more strategies to keep in mind. My sporadic playing of this game really isn't working in my favor when it comes to success online. They also made the standard game, Wings of Liberty free to play. And people owning WoF got Heart of the Swarm for free, and people with HoS got Legacy of the void for free. So yay, I wasted money!

Don't starve together

Holy **** on a stick. It's been a while since I was so frustrated while playing a game. So this is the multiplayer version of Don't starve alone and allows you to play with other people. You choose a character and you start in the same place. You have a hunger bar, a health bar and a sanity bar. If the hunger bar drops your hp bar will drop as well, if your sanity bar drops **** will happen that eventually leads to your hp bar to drop. This is a survival game, maybe it isn't really advertised as such? I don't know to be honest, just got it. But you travel together to find resources to help you survive for as long as possible. There is no leveling system, instead progress of that kind is done purely through crafting. You even craft a science machine to get access to more crafting recipes. If you manage to progress in the game and survive you will eventually enter different seasons and the different seasons adds new dangers to tackle. Winter for example is a disaster just like in real life, summer has some heatwaves and so on. However you are more likely to die from aggroing too many enemies at the same time, not getting enough food to eat, deciding to eat monster meat to avoid starving which in the end lowers your health and sanity too much, accidentally putting an entire forest on fire, accidentally making your campfire lighting your camp on fire, spooky ghosts as a result of bad sanity, roaming hound attacks and many more. To be honest we never managed to get far, something always happened that ended our journey. The world is randomly generated so your first point of business is finding someplace to bunk down, and then you need to learn from experience what is worth doing and what should be avoided. So far our record is day 25, we died from a bunch of Penguins as we desperately tried to get eggs to not starve.

Destiny 2

Not worth the money. A lot of my friends got this, just like with overwatch I decided to join them. Call me old fashioned but I felt like the price was a bit high. 50€ for a physical copy. Anyway, what is my gripe with this? Well for starters you don't get a lot of gameplay for that price. The campaign is pretty short 2 story missions on each of the 4 planets, the prologue/tutorial is as long as the rest of the campaign. The max level is 20. I reached the level cap in 2-3 days and that was only a few hours each day as it was a work week, the campaign was finished in 5 days, although I could've completed it far sooner. After that it's just your everyday gear grinding adventure. Each week there you get some challenges to complete, these include playing PvP, earning Guild rep, completing the Weekly Nightfall(dungeon thingy) completing the game's only raid and then a random one. These reward you with a so called "Powerful engram", engram being the name used for unidentified gear. You can buy gear on each of the planets equal to your level but it is capped at 200pwr which is what you reach at lvl 20, however gear up to 305pwr can be looted. Other than that you can purchase random weapon mods for 2500 each or cosmetics.Challenges, chests and public events reward you with tokens, the tokens can be handed in on each planet to receive a legendary engram. There are also pvp tokens, strike (dungeon instances) tokens and other tokens. The problem with the engrams however is that they will be 5 levels below your current power. So if your gear is of average 200 pwr then you will get 195 gear from the engrams. The powerful engrams on the other hand is on the same level as your current gear or higher.This makes it pretty much pointless to play the game, the weekly reward you with better gear but playing the game otherwise is pointless unless you are lucky and get an exotic engram which is basically the same as a powerful engram only that the item is unique. There are premade weapons and armors that drop, meaning that they all have the same stats except for the pwr level. Just not a good system to me. You find gear, look at the level, oh same level as this one, let's salvage it. The starting classes are titan, hunter and warlock. I went with titan. Each class has a main class and two subclasses, each corresponding to the different elements in the game; solar, void and arc. There is no real skill tree so I don't really get why you have skill points but whatever. You get to choose between 3 different grenade mods, 3 different jet pack/flying mods and then between 2 things that are class locked, in my case as a titan I could either throw up a huge barrier that's in the way or a small barrier that you can crouch at and shoot over. Then there are two paths to take, I suppose that this is when your choice matters. These are sub-sub classes in a way and changes how your melee ability works and what bonuses your super skill-mode has. But in the end, once you complete the raid there is nothing more to do in the game. The game is visually nice as hell but that's just not enough. There is a DLC coming out in December but that's like another 30€ or so.

Jackbox party Triology

Great fun, at least if the participants know English well. I tend to forget that some of the people in my circle of friends are not as good at English and having to explain questions and instructions get kinda tedious.Getting off topic here. As the name suggests this is a party game, it's about interacting with other people mostly. Laughing at each other for screwing up and competing. There is one game that is basically Cards against Humanity, another that is about tricking the other players, trivia games, guessing statistics, choosing sound for instructions, making your own t shirts and many more. It might seem weird at first that you need a phone to play but it works pretty well as long as everyone has a pretty modern phone with internet or good Wifi.

Dungeon defenders 2

A free to play game that mixes tower defense with 3rd person faceboarding. To explain this as simple as possible. Each map has spawn points for enemies, enemies come in waves. Each map consists of 4-5 waves and there is 1-3 objectives that you need to protect or you lose the map. There are also some sub-objectives on the map that are good to protect, otherwise another spawn point will unlock, the enemies will be buffed, you will get weakened and so on. Overall the game is well balanced, there are different classes to play as. 4 of them are available at the start of the game and they each specialize in different things, traps, auras, projectiles, debuffs, direct combat without towers and so on. For each map you pick your hero deck consisting of 4 heroes so you can use all of them to build or fight depending on what you need. You can also play with 3 other people to tackle the more challenging levels. There is also gear, of course that you can equip on characters and towers to increase their stats. Other than that there is also Shards that are equipped in gear to boost hero abilities or give passive bonuses. Upon reaching max level you get points that can be spent on three different trees with different bonuses and so on. In the end there is a lot to do that can increase your hero's efficiency in the game.Luckily there are also several different difficulty levels and trials that can be attempted. In the end though, you got to ask yourself. "Why am I doing this?" I get better gear, sure, but then what? Good game, spent almost 100 hours on it but then you gotta move on. But for the money I spent, well worth it. Worms WMD

Latest worms, some things are back to the old style but some new additions remain. Like an attack helicopter, mecha armor suit and terrain that can be entered. There is also a weird crafting system that just didn't make sense to me, or well I get it; you pick up crates that holds items and then you open the crafting window to create the weapon and then you use it. But most of these are unique from crafting, so it's not a matter of having a second way of getting weapons. New things.Other than that the game is a lot more user friendly, especially the modding. Templates for maps, forts, hats and so on are all available. Fun to play with people you know, less fun to play on your own or online.

Chaos Reborn

A neat mix between deck building card games and hexagonal strategy. You are a wizard, you fight another wizard. There is a map made up from most likely two symmetric sides. You start on one side, the opponent on the other. Then you have 1 cast of spell cards that are drawn from a deck. These are either spells or summons. You also have mana, you get mana each turn and can use it to pay the cost of the spell card to use it. But you may also use it as an illusion instead. Then it costs no mana but works the same way as the real deal. The catch? The opponent may use a "disbelieve spell" to make it disappear. But using the disbelieve counts as a spell, if you are correct you get another spell to cast but otherwise well tough luck. Summons come in three factions neutral, chaos and order. Chaos and order increases a chaos bar that is increased by chaos cards and decreased by order cards. You get a cost reduction on spells based on where it is on that bar right now. Then there are monsters the wizard can mount, to increase your survivability basically. Oh right, you win when the opponent's wizard dies. That's it. But there are a lot of interesting mechanics in the game, ranged creatures, summoning packs of creatures, fliers, traps, the mounts from before, undead creatures that can only be hurt by magic and so on. Great game if you are into this type of game. Just kinda hard to find people to play with, and most of them were pretty good.

The almost latest game in the series, while the previous...8? games have followed the same formula sun and moon took another path. You no longer visit gyms and then the elite 4. No, you are a trainer participating in the Island Challenge instead traveling from island to island to defeat the "kahuna"(not kakuna) and become the best! To fight each kahuna you must defeat his captains' trials, some of these are straight up pokémon battles, some are just fighting buffed pokémon or just doing whatever. Maybe I just know this game too well after all these 20 something years but the combat really isn't challenging in the story at least. They added some Z moves that are super powerful versions of attacks. But that's the challenge a lot of time, giving the opponent a super move. You can even check enemy type whenever you want and there is even a note on each move indicating if it is effective, not effective or super effective against them. It frustrated me how some pokes can only be encountered in rare occasions by making another pokemon summon them during battle. This made the search unnecessary long and tedious when you fail to catch it because of a crit.Maybe it just wasn't the game for me. It's cool that they replaced the bike with a tauros, the itemfinder with a Stoutland and both Fly and Surf HMs but it's not doing much for me, yes sure that frees up a lot more when it comes to choice of pokemon, I no longer need a water type to learn surf or a flyer to learn fly, but at the same time I no longer need that space since the combat is easy...I managed to get through most of the game using around 4 of my pokes, had the otter and toucan from the start to finish even though they aren't needed for anything in particular. Also, btw there is in fact an elite 4 at the end of the game.

Code name steam

An interesting turn based game with some similarities to Fire emblem and Valkyria Chronicles. Not really fair to compare it to those two games but the first ones that come to mind. You have a set crew of different characters that are increased as you progress the story. The story is basically that aliens(Cthulhu based aliens) descend upon a steampunk world and tries to conquer the world, and pretty much succeed. But Abraham Lincon and the Queen luckily have a backup plan in the form of STEAM who are sent out on different missions to save the world. In battle you have your turn to move and attack and then the opponents do the same. Moving costs "steam" the resource of the game and so does attacking and other skills. What differs this from the other two games mentioned though is the fact that counterattacking can only be done if you have enough steam saved in reserve. So if a character is completely drained by the end of the round - he's also defenseless. Since the enemies aren't soldiers there is a lot of variety among what you fight, mostly you eventually get a characters with a weapon that's really effective against a type of enemy. Characters have 1 weapon set and one open for customization. All character specific weapons can also be unlocked for the other characters, but they are mostly slightly worse in terms of cost or damage. Other than that you unlock different types of engines that change how much steam you start with, your max and how much you regain each turn. It's a good game but it gets more difficult as you progress and there is nothing to grind unlike other games. Since some characters are better against different types of enemies as well, there is kinda a set way to deal with things later on when the enemies get more health and such, so some trial and error is included. Luckily most maps are pretty original with a mix of defend, get to point and destroy target.

Legend of Legacy

I suppose my biggest problem with this game is how bad I am at random chance. To clarify, this game relies on chance for stat level ups, learning skills, having enemies doing the right thing and having your chance based skills trigger. Likewise when it comes to items that the shop sells is seemingly random although a progress can be detected, what you find in the different maps are based on some sort of loot table and your real-time trading ships give you random items. And that is my biggest problem, by the time I reached the end of the game some of my characters had a lot of stuff while others did not, some stats were really strong and others not. The final boss fight became a question of whether or not my tank would counter and if the boss would do the massive titan fist and kill my characters. My Second problem with this game is the overall lack of story, it was clear during interviews that they aimed for a SNES era feeling to the game and you can feel it in the progress related "oh ye heroeths saveth this landeth" esque cryptic messages. You can choose between 7 characters at the start of the game and they each have their own intro sequence, then the rest of the game is the same. My third and final problem with the game is how unclear everything combat related is. You have three overall stances, attack, guard and support. Using the stances have a chance of increasing that stat for your character, also all skills you use in a stance have a chance to increase that skill's attack, guard and support stat. Problem is that the game just doesn't tell you what the stats actually do. Likewise I had to look up online what the different battlefield elements did. Apparently water reduces magic, wind reduces damage, fire increases damage and shadow increases magic. But don't get me wrong, the game is fun, the battles are challenging but sometimes boils down a bit too much to luck. There is a good balance going on, assigning roles to different characters is useful which creates some variety. However, playing new game + just doesn't work for me, sure your money and stances carry over and all items in your encyclopedia can appear in the store, but since you start the chance farming all over again it just doesn't do for me, I have no real proficiency to carry over.

Stella Glow

This is one of them tactic-based combat systems where you move around in a isometric map with different characters and defeat enemies that are also on that map. The game is kinda classic, but there is no class system like in FFT. Now it's mostly different characters being specialized in different things. The story itself is kinda typical Atlus rpg so won't talk a lot about it. But there are some common character types we've seen everywhere and a slightly amnesiac protagonist. I haven't finished it yet but I feel like the game has a good difficulty curve in which enemies become increasingly more difficult as my own roster is expanded with character with different abilities.Other than that the game plays out in different days, you have X amount of free time during the day that leads up to the actual mission (If you played FF type 0 then you get this), typical mission based game stricture there. You can enter the world map and fight common enemies or spend Playcoins (that gyroscope thing) to challenge more difficult enemies. Overall a fun game if you are into tactics games.

I also realized that I have a whole bunch of Wii U games that I haven't finished, in fact. Other than Xenoblade Chronicles X from last year I haven't used it for anything new. Smash bros, Mario Kart, Starwhals, Neo Racing and all that appear for multiplayer but nothing else at the moment. Also, I still haven't saved for a Switch. Breath of the wild looks sick but after Xenoblade, MGS5 and FFXV I'm just not in the mood for another open world game.

As per usual, I'm only listing games that I've beaten this year. Multiplayer games can't be beaten, so I tend to brush off the countless hours I've spent in Rocket League or other such games, but I can definitely tell you that I put my hours in.

Ok, so maybe not the most games I've ever beaten in a year, but with titans like Breath of the Wild and Mario Odyssey on the list, it's not like I had time or the desire to play too many other things. Hey, it's still a respectable list, and technically I have 3 1/2 hours left to find and beat another game. On the other hand, maybe I'll just play some more Rocket League. Anyway, review time.

Ratchet & Clank: Size Matters/Secret Agent Clank

I'm combining these games together in the interest of time, and also because they have a bit in common. They're both decent 3D action platformers that try (and sometimes succeed!) at capturing the feeling of the home console classics. While the first of these two games plays much like the usual titles, the second game focuses on the in-universe TV show starring Clank where he plays a Bond-esque spy-type character. There's some wonky stealth, but it plays more-or-less like your typical Ratchet & Clank game. It even has some Ratchet levels where he has to kill waves of bad guys in a prison yard. It feels a little more imaginative than Size Matters, but oddly less creative overall. Anyway, they're both fine, and mapping camera controls to the right stick on a Vita helps to make the controls feel a lot nicer.

Shantae: Half-Genie HeroMan, you might have heard that I like Metroidvanias, and that I'm also a fan of WayForward. Well, let me tell you, I'm also a big fan of the Shantae games, and have beaten them all by this point. They're so good, guys. Awesome gameplay, fun environments, wonderful music, beautiful animation, and they're just so good. This one's no exception, and I love it to death. The only thing I was disappointed by was the fact that it wasn't also available on the 3DS. All of the other games are playable on the 3DS! I want to keep them all in one place! First-world problems!

The Legend of Zelda

The original game that started the series. I'd played it plenty through the years, but I had never been able to beat it. With Breath of the Wild on the (then) horizon, I decided to give it another go. I have to tell you, it's a great example of why I love ALttP so much: The game has some awesome hidden elements and cryptic-ass bullshit that I go crazy for, but it's also clunky and basic. It was super-impressive for the time and is still pretty fun, but it needed a bit more polish, and giving it some direction helped it to feel more like an adventure than a series of exploratory death-traps. I mean, I like the both of them, but given the choice, I love a good dungeon. Anyway, it still had parts that were hard as hell, and if the 3DS didn't have save states, I might never have gotten past dungeon 6. Those fucking Wizzrobe rooms are cancer.

Sly 3

Another entry in the stealth-platformer series, and a pretty great one at that. It plays a ton like the previous entry, but it does away with the bulk of the collectibles found in the previous games. Man, that's a blessing and a curse, because I love collect-a-thon platformers, but it's nice to not have to hunt high and low for that last message in a bottle. Anyway, it's a ton of fun, and the mission structure was very cool. Basically, each world is an open environment with dudes patrolling. There's not a ton to do, but it gives you the ability to learn the layout, of the area. The actual missions are GTA-styled in that you are given tasks in this world that need doing, and knowing your surroundings makes a difference. There are plenty of unique areas to do missions in, and things are all set up in heist-movie setup missions. They even did a great job making the missions feel like they deserve to exist, instead of just being filler nonsense. I also appreciate that the game's story is surprisingly mature despite its silly cartoon aesthetics. All in all a nice game worth playing. The Vita port is great, too.

The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening DX

This was my first Zelda game. I mean, the non-DX version was, but it's close enough. It's a full-fledged Zelda game that Nintendo made for the Game Boy. Game Boy games were usually watered-down versions of console games, but that definitely wasn't the case here. This game is great, and the DX version adds some fun extra content, including a great extra dungeon that takes advantage of the Game Boy Color's ability to, well, have color. It also had a really cool story that felt like a precursor to Majora's Mask.

The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild

What can I say that the internet hasn't already said? It's masterful. Amazing open-world design, excellent world-building, visually stunning, great music, and unparalleled freedom in how to do things. It's so good. But instead of talking about the million great things, I'll talk about the things I didn't like. Everyone disliked how weapons all break, or at least disliked how quickly they broke. I agree. I think that rotating your weapons has a pretty nice tactical element, but I sure do wish that I could keep them in good condition a little bit longer. Repairing would be nice. I also didn't like that there are only four dungeons. That ****'s lame. Shrines are no replacement for real dungeons. Uh... I guess that's it. The game's solid as heck

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3

I mean, it's Call of Duty. You shoot guys and sometimes get shot.

BoxBoxBoy

So remember in 2015 when I talked about BoxBoy? The minimalist puzzle game with a cute little dude? It got a sequel. Well, two, but this is the one I played. It's more of that, but I don't mind at all. If you like puzzle platformers, this one's a real charmer and great at what it does.

Mario Kart 8 Deluxe

From small-time indie outfit Nintendo comes this charming coming-of-age visual novel about a goat with feelings of intimacy towards a Japanese schoolgirl. He tries to consummate his love, despite society saying that he'll never make it, and, well, I don't want to spoil anything, but a goat can never win in this modern age of technology and micro-aggressions. Also, I got 3-star gold cups in all CCs.

Snake Pass

Now this game is a game that really redefines the concept of making core mechanics fun. Snake Pass is a... Platformer I guess? You play as a Snake named Noodle, and you go around a level with obstacles (no enemies) and simply try to navigate your way around, collecting things. The controls are unique, and can be frustrating at first, but once you master them, it's a ton of fun seeing what you can do with such a limited move set. I highly recommend this game, but be sure to note that it takes a while before everything clicks.

Metroid Prime

It's the game that put Retro Studios on the map, and the controversial title that took Metroid to first-person. Given that the game is ancient by now, its reputation as being an incredibly high-quality masterwork is well known, so I'll keep this brief: Jesus, this game held up well. I mean, the controls are a bit dated, but everything else is great. Level design, music, graphics, everything. Maybe some weird difficulty spikes, but excellent nonetheless.

Undertale

I'm late to the party here, but wow, this game is 100% deserving of its cult-like following. I was so off-put by the fandom around this game that I ignored it for years, but having finally played it, I feel like an idiot. The music is just so good, the gameplay is something that feels surprisingly natural and remarkably innovative, and the story is one of the best I've ever experienced. This game is borderline perfect, and I can't recommend it highly enough.

Mario + Rabbids: Kingdom Battle

Talk about the surprise of the century. A weird Mario/Rabbids crossover game that essentially bastardizes everything I know and love about the Mario franchise is actually one of the best turn-based strategy games I've ever played. It's just so well-made that I can't hate it. Basically, it's X-Com: Mario + Rabbids Edition. If you like X-Com, you'll like this. Also, Rabbid Mario is the most over-powered piece of sh[/i][/i]it ever, and I love him. If you have a Switch and enjoy TBS, check it out.

Steamworld Dig 2

The direct sequel to Steamworld Dig, this game is basically Terraria with a more structured world and story. It's really good, and I'm sort of unsure if it qualifies as a Metroidvania? Anyway, it's a ton of fun, and one of my favorite titles on the Switch.

Metroid: Samus Returns

A brilliant remake of Metroid II that does a little bit of retconning to make it fit in with the Metroid lore better (and in at least one case, worse). It's great. It's Metroid. The Aeion powers are neat I guess? I don't know what else to say. I mostly wish I could use the d-pad to move, and having the c-stick on my New 3DS XL be aiming for your cannon would be nice. Anyway, good game. The map reveal tool is wonderful, but perhaps makes exploration too easy.

Super Mario Odyssey

*throws hands up in the air and walks out of the room*

*walks back in after five minutes of building suspense*

Ok, so this is the absolute pinnacle of 3D Mario. I can't find anything to fault. It's just so perfect. Music, perfect. Graphics, perfect. Levels, perfect. Controls, perfect. It's all perfect. Wait, no, there's one thing that's not perfect, and it's the goddamn volleyball second level challenge. Nope. Everything else? Perfect. Just nothing but perfect, and I can't find any better word for the game.

Wii, though I own the GC version as well. I underlined the versions of each game that I played in the month-by-month breakdown if they have multiple platform releases.

Anyway, I love my Switch. I would buy everything I own on another platform a second time just so I can play it on my Switch. Portability and the ability to just put the device to sleep when I want to stop makes it the perfect (almost perfect) way to play games for me. When Metroid Prime 4 releases, I'm probably not going to be available for a while.

A good year for me (thanks for being unemployed since August xD I guess..)43 Games finished

12-02-17 - Beat: Brütal Legend (360)I am unsure about it. I loved the ambiance, the music, the story (even though quite simple), the gameplay in general. BUT the collectibles are too many, and the battles with the minions to summon and stuff are so badly made. Sidequests are a bit dull as well. Could have been better.

10-31-17 - Completed: Super Mario 64 (N64)It took me... 20 years? But I finally managed to complete with all 120 starts SM64. I remember as a kid, it was hard, the controls and camera were horrible, and I could not get past the first Bowser fight. THis year it was a lot easier, I got used to the clunky camera and some dodgy moves, and I had a lot of fun and felt rewarded. Some of the stars were still a hassle to get, but a good challenge in the end. Maybe I was just to young the first few times I tried

09-21-17 - Completed: The Lord of The Rings - The Fellowship of the Ring (PS2)I won't say a thing on that game, other than it's lame.

09-20-17 - Beat: Bully (PS2)A GTA based on school life. I had a lot more fun than all of the GTAs I've done, maybe because there is slightly less freedom so that scared me less. I enjoyed it quite a lot.

09-17-17 - Beat: The Four Heroes of Light - A Final Fantasy Anecdote (NDS)As a spiritual prequel to the Bravely Default series, it has the same problems: too easy (except the last boss which, in a regular play, is just IMPOSSIBLE to beat), a very lame level design, a cute character design, nice music and story. I enjoyed it more than BD because that last one in the second part was a pain.

09-11-17 - Beat: Bujingai Swordmaster (PS2)From what I read on the internet, this is one of the best BTA ever created. I'd just like to laugh at that. Last battle was cool though.

09-09-17 - Completed: Runaway III - A Twist of Fate (PC)The best of the 3 Runaways (not difficult). Still has a lot of the defaults of the first two games, but it finally looks decent. I do not understand how adventure games fan workship this series so much. Desperation?

09-08-17 - Completed: Runaway II - The Dream of the Turtle (PC)See the first one.

09-06-17 - Completed: Broken Sword 5 (PC)After disastrous 3rd and 4th episode, Georges and Nicole come back in better shape! Some parts of the game seemed forced and rushed, and we don't visit the world as much as the first or second BS (or the amateur 1.5), but it's still a lot more improved. It's a shame it was so short.

08-30-17 - Completed: Grandia III (PS2)YES! THIS IS WHAT GRANDIA 1 SHOULD HAVE BEEN! Ok. I hate Grandia 1. I don't understand why people love it so much and speak of adventures with a big A, when I've just been bored to hell (more than with Forever Kingdom!) for the hours I played it (and gave up many times to the point it will probably be the only game I'll NEVER finish). But Grandia 3... The battle system is just so sharp, the graphics so pretty, and the music so good that the linearity of the exploration and the relatively classic story are not a problem at all.

08-30-17 - Completed: Splatoon 2 (Switch)Didn't have a WiiU so I never played the first one, but damn, this is a FUN game. Never had that much fun in a TPS ever before.

08-29-17 - Completed: Mario Kart 8 Deluxe (Switch)Still not as good as Double Dash, but fun nonetheless, especially with friends around. I'm not so sure the unlocking of elements with coins, when the game can cheat so easily (remnant of MK Wii), is a clever move...

08-07-17 - Completed: Time Hollow (NDS)Very interesting ideas in this game. It's not fully using the time idea, but quite well. There are a few plot-holes and stuff that don't get along, but I enjoyed. Some of it reminded me of the ending of Shadow Hearts Covenant. A good adventure game for the DS.

08-04-17 - Completed: Mario and Luigi - Partners in Time (NDS)This was a lot more painful to finish than Bowser Inside Story, mainly because some of the "special power" of the babies were given directly to the adults in BiS, so I felt a bit cheated. Otherwise, a solid and fun RPG, maybe too long like BiS. The battle system is really well made, it's graphically super cute and very Mario-esque.

07-13-17 - Beat: Mario and Luigi - Bowser Inside Story (NDS)I started BiS not being sure I'd like it, as I had a really hard time liking Superstar Saga. It turned out to be a very good game, maybe a bit too long. The story sis really WTF but it was fun to follow, and the gameplay was as solid as a rock.

07-07-17 - Beat: Final Fantasy XV (PS4)Hmm... Hmmm... How to lose 23h of my life. Only the Leviathan battle (and following CG) and the last CG excited me. Everything else is so clunky, it hurts to even think of this as a Final Fantasy. Loading times, choppy framerate, uninteresting dialogs, lack of background, stupid characters, lame music (I never thought I'd say that from Shinomura), camera, magic, summon system, sidequests. OH THE HORROR! The worse is that I can see the potential but it never gets through, so I could only be disappointed when I saw something interesting. Good ideas, but badly made. The additions are as bad as the original game. ANd the game was supposed to be optimised for the PS4 Pro. It's obviously not.I can't decide if Lightning Returns was better or not though, so let's put them aside and forget about them

06-20-17 - Completed: Valkyrie Profile - Covenant of the PLume (NDS)Typical tri-Ace game. DO I have to go all over it again? XD

06-09-17 - Completed: Jake Hunter Detective Story - Memories of the Past (NDS)A very chatty Visual Novel, similar to Hotel Dusk and Ace Attorney series. The cases are good, but graphics-wise I found it awful xD

05-24-17 - Completed: Crystal Beans from Dungeon Explorers (SNES)Easy and short. You can choose different classes to go kill the Evil. The game is finished in roughly 5h.

05-23-17- Completed: Monstania (SNES)Once again, easy and short. 3h. Monstania is a T-RPG in real time, meaning that the enemies move as you move. It's quite a cute game, with sometimes interesting puzzles, but the AI is so stupid it hurts (hey, the bear!). Still, a pleasant game.

05-22-17 - Completed: Famicom Tantei Club Part II - Ushiro ni Tatsu Shoujo (SNES)Again a visual novel. This was rather a cute one, with a guy investigating the death of a school-girl, with some ghosts things on the way. There was a bit too much travel involved, but it was nicely tied.

05-13-17 - Completed: Firewatch (PC)I was really disappointed by Firewatch. They sold me a contemplative game. I've got some of that of course, but they felt the need to add a very bad story to it. Most of it makes no sense at all. It ruined the game for me. It really did, and I'm sad about it because I was enjoying just going around.

05-12-17 - Beat: Shin Megami Tensei: Devil Summoner - Soul Hackers (3DS)The first SMT I actually beat! It was much more simple than the others and I finally understood some obscure gameplay subtleties from the other games in the series, so I'm really chuffed to do the other ones. I loved the story, despite a rather... stupid last boss.

05-08-17 - Completed: Wonder Boy - The Dragon's Trap (Switch)Just as good as the original, but graphically better, masterpiece. Too expensive for the price it was set when I got it (20 Euros).

05-06-17 - Completed: I am Setsuna (Switch)Do Square Enix still create good games? With I am Setsuna, I could finally say yes, a thing I wasn't able to say for years. I loves the simplicity of it, the very good ideas of the battle system, the graphics, the piano soundtrack. It's not a must-do game, but it is a solid one, especially if you like old-school JRPGs.

05-05-17 - Completed: THe Legend of Zelda Breath of the Wild (Switch)This is 2017 Masterpiece. One of the best Zeldas ever created, it has become one of my favourite game with FF9, Chrono Cross, Link's Awakening and Jazz Jackrabbit 2. Never ever an Open World had sucked me in that way. There's always something to do, plenty of ways to do it. I haven't yet bought the DLCs, but I'm going to.

03-22-17 - Beat: Final Fantasy Explorers (3DS) Just lame to the bone.

03-01-17 - Completed: Chase - Cold Case Investigations - Distant Memories (3DS) I expected much better from Cing, who did Hotel Dusk and Last Window. So much more. The case here is OK-ish, but nothing exciting, and this first episode (I hope it's just an episode otherwise I scream) is finished in less than an hour. And it's sold 10Euros...

02-17-17 - Completed: Dragon Quest (SNES)I think everyone here knows Dragon Quest. The SNES version makes it prettier than the NES one, but it's the same game otherwise. Challenging if you don't spend time looting and grinding.

02-02-17 - Beat: From the Abyss (NDS)I've heard a lot of bad things from this game, but if you expect what it is, that is a D-RPG, then it's a solid one. What I liked is that you can do litterally anything of your character, and still beat it. The game doesn't make you choose a class nor does it blocks you from upgrading a stat over another. You're 100% free.

02-01-17 - Completed: Randal's Monday (PC)A good Point and Click, but hell, it is waaaaay too long. Randal lives the same day over and over again, but with sometimes slight changes. The goal is to get out of this time loop of course, but some things just don't add up. Especially when it comes to the story, for example in the jail. The game is otherwise full of references, and has some pretty good logical puzzles.

01-30-17 - Completed: Gemini Rue (PC)It's like Blade Runner crossed with IA. It's very very very good. And unexpected. For a guy who made this alone, WOW. I highly recommend it if you like P&C games

01-28-17 - Completed: Bravely Default (3DS)It's pretty (reminded me of FF9), the battle system is solid, BUT the game is way too easy except the last boss, which is nearly impossible to kill if you don't use a SPECIFIC set of classes (for a game preaxhing the variety of jobs...), and the level design is just catastrophic. The second part of the game is annoying too. We get it the first time, why make us go through 4 times? Other than that it's pretty enjoyable.

01-26-17 - Beat: The Legend of Zelda - The Wind Waker (GCN)One of my nemesis in the Zelda franchise. Not as bad as the Capcom GBC/GBA ones, but damn, I suffered with that game. I've been trying and trying but always giving up. I was soooo bored all the time. Beyond possibilities. And it''s a shame because it's the best Ganon of the series, so much swag, the last cutscene :OBut all of the rest... The boat... the Triforce pieces.... OH MON DIEU! Kill me xD

01-18-17 - Completed: Runaway - A Road Adventure (PC)So it truns out Runaway is an esteemed P&C Adventure game. But why? The only reason I can see is that when it was released, P&C games were kinda has-been, and fans had little to play of the genre. No puzzle makes sense, both characters are despicable, the game is ugly AF and the 3D is just hurting my eyes. The dialogs are.. I don't know. It's as if you were asking Eminem to write like Shakespeare. And the jokes....

01-14-17 - Completed: The Legend of Zelda - Majora's Mask 3D (3DS) I had a hard time on the N64 version, but MM is a really good game, which reminded me a lot of Link's Awakening, my favourite Zelda game. There's a lot to do, and a lot that changes from the regular Zeldas we had. Thinking about it now, a lot of this foresees Breath of The Wild. I was however disappointed that the last boss was so easy to kill, with or without the ultimate weapon

01-12-17 - Completed: Anna's Quest (PC)Once again, a strong P&C from Daedalic. Logical puzzles, interesting story and a well made soundtrack. There's not much else to say aahah

01-10-17 - Completed: The Little Acre (PC)Pretty, but disappointing. Sold like a challenging P&C, TLA is however clearly made for kids. The universe is however very interesting and some of it reminded me of Pan's Labyrinth, with less gory things in it.

01-10-17 - Completed: Quest RPG - Brian's Journey (GBC)I was told never to play the N64 version of it, so I tried the GBC one. It's actually quite fun! Since you're a wizard, most of the damage in battle is done from spells. Spells are formed from combinations of elements and there are many combinations, I'm not even sure I've done them all.

01-03-17 - Beat: The Legend of Zelda - Ocarina Of Time 3D (3DS)I've decided to start the first game of 2017 by something big. I never managed to beat OoT on the N64 version, because I got bored of it when you become adult. I still got bored then, but managed to carry on. For me, OoT is a good game, but largely overrated. Many other Zelda games do better in my opinion, and many other games as well. Maybe at the time of release, it was legitimate to consider it as the best game of all times, but definitely not now. I however enjoyed it, except for the passage in the Zora domain, and the Gerudo Fortress. Some very clunky passages, but otherwise the dungeons were still a master art of level design.

I've started 2018 with The Legend of Dragoons now that I found a physical copy of it, and L.A. Noire on the Switch. I'm looking forward to the complete edition of Titan Quest (I had bought it on PC, but it always refused to run on my laptop), Battle Chasers Nightware and to finish some more games of my collections.

Hey, Dawn of Sorrow was my first Castlevania, too. I loved it, and I hold it in high regards among the Metroidvania-styled Castlevanias. It's possible that I'm playing favorites with it because it was my introduction, but I still think it was excellent. Drawing seals to finish bosses was a bit annoying, though.

I don't play as many games as you lot : p I can't even remember what was this year and what was last year...

Nier Automata - I'm most of the way through game 3 and loving it. I wasn't sure at the beginning but it gets better and better as it goes on.

Pokemon Sun - Was that this year? It was quite good and I love Pyukumuku but I think this was my first ever experience of Pokemon fatigue, sadly - I just didn't plough into the game, try and get shineys, and do all the other stuff that I usually love doing. I don't know if that's the game's fault or mine.

Fire Emblem Birthright - Compared to Awakening, I actually thought the plot and dialogue was really poor, which was a shame. Maybe if I got all of the games and experienced the 'full experience' it would have been better, but I couldn't be bothered - this one might have actually been my least favourite in the whole series, which I've played since the first GBA one.

FF15 - I disagree with you lot, I thought it was pretty good. The camping, cooking and fishing were wonderful and I loved just wandering the world with a party of buddies. The plot was clearly rushed which was a shame, but some bits of the game, particularly where Aranea is involved, gave me classic FF feels without being nostalgia driven, so I was pretty happy.

FF5 - I replayed most of 5 and I forgot how simplistic the plot is haha :p I hadn't played it in ages and I had an inflated opinion of it, but now it's back below ff4 where it belongs.

Honestly, my games thingy has a lot to do with a new year's resolution that I not only actually made (such a rarity for me), but actually bothered to follow through with: Trying to clear out my backlog. To help keep track, I've been making a list of every game I beat for each month of the year. This has been ongoing since 2013, and it's nice to see the progress being made, even if it excludes all the games I keep not finishing/buying and making the backlog worse.

I have gotten a bit better about not buying absurd numbers of games, though. The majority of my Steam sale purchases have been Rocksmith DLC, and I've kept my spending fairly limited, only buying games that I'm actually going to play.

Honestly, my games thingy has a lot to do with a new year's resolution that I not only actually made (such a rarity for me), but actually bothered to follow through with: Trying to clear out my backlog. To help keep track, I've been making a list of every game I beat for each month of the year. This has been ongoing since 2013, and it's nice to see the progress being made, even if it excludes all the games I keep not finishing/buying and making the backlog worse.

I have gotten a bit better about not buying absurd numbers of games, though. The majority of my Steam sale purchases have been Rocksmith DLC, and I've kept my spending fairly limited, only buying games that I'm actually going to play.

I have pretty much the same thing, then I also get pulled in by new games, but in general I feel like the hype about latest installments of games isn't as strong. Maybe it's me or maybe it's the industry that is too crowded these days (or that the new game never releases... Kingdom Hearts 3). Especially Steam games are predominant on my backlist. Sometimes games look good and you buy them for 4-10€ but you never really play them.

I have also tried to cut down on game purchasing, this year wasn't that well. But at least I didn't buy a Switch solely for Breath of the Wild, although I kinda regret it based on the reviews and what people have said about.

I have pretty much the same thing, then I also get pulled in by new games, but in general I feel like the hype about latest installments of games isn't as strong. Maybe it's me or maybe it's the industry that is too crowded these days (or that the new game never releases... Kingdom Hearts 3). Especially Steam games are predominant on my backlist. Sometimes games look good and you buy them for 4-10€ but you never really play them.

I have also tried to cut down on game purchasing, this year wasn't that well. But at least I didn't buy a Switch solely for Breath of the Wild, although I kinda regret it based on the reviews and what people have said about.

Same really. My backlog only got smaller because there's not many things interesting for me either, even though I enjoyed the Switch and bought some very good games for it. But nowadays I buy max 4 games per year, before I used to buy at least 1 or 2 per month. You can always play BotW on the WiiU emulator, I was told it runs very well, with no framerate drop and a better resolution. Not that I had any framerate problems personnally, even though I did things that should have made the game go wild, but the WiiU version is I guess less performing on the technical side, which seems to be resolved with the emulator.

2017 was a great year for games. I couldn't tell you how many I ended up playing as well.

I bought a Switch in November for Mario Odyssey, and grabbed a few other games including Zelda and Xenoblade Chronicles 2. Out of the three I got the most time, and enjoyment out of Xenoblade 2. I haven't played any of the others in the series, but this game had a lot of meat and charm to it.

Zelda was just okay. It had a great sense of exploration and discovery, but the controls were unforgivably bad. I spent probably close to 60-70 hours until I finished this game, and the first 35-40 of that were me struggling to do anything with the controls. Horrendous difficulty spikes too, don't tell me to go explore then punish me for it with swarms of enemies that kill me in one shot. Super anti-climatic too, I just climbed over 70% of the obstacles in the final dungeon, and plowed through the final boss like it was nothing. Also +1 for obnoxious weapon breakage, and lack of many Zelda gadgets.

Sonic Mania is likely my game of the year. I couldn't stop grinning from ear to ear playing through this, it's exactly what I wanted. I really hope they make another with all original levels.

I'm probably forgetting a million things, so I'll post them as I think of them.

I mostly spent 2017 re-playing my PC Skyrim. Got really into the Dark Brotherhood Storyline, completed the Imperial one and was actually shocked and disappointed at how easily it all wrapped up. Also over leveled a character through Smithing for once XD That was new for me.

when my phone died I lost a few mobile games but I got a frack ton in exchange when I upgraded to a phone with better memory. Amount the games I tried out were

KH: Union Cross: Cause let's face it I'm gonna at least TRY it once if you can make your own character, used to have scores of fan characters and still adore the original two games and Birth by Sleep. Oddly the touch to to slash interface was so smooth and perfect for mobile gaming to the point I was trying to figure out what MV plugins I could use to get a similar effect. It's action point based system that changed up the back and slash basics of most KH titles and made the game play a little more tactical. The medals thing was kinda dumb and designed for DLC and in app purchases ofcourse and the slow, constant updates ultimately killed it for me though. -_-; But that may just be the fact that I don't have a wi-fi network.

Another I tried cause my play store recommended it was Knights if Pen and Paper 2. This game was just so fun. Like a condensed D&D where the party is the players and the fourth wall is entirely transparent and nothing was totally serious and yet the battle system was no joke. Once you got the hang of crafting and learned to go to daily events you could get past most anything but..that final boss has still got me stumped to this day. It's a rival party so it's a little bit uniquely different and challenging!

Out of the fan games I played Undertale Yellow a game where you play through alternate locations introduced in Undertale while purporting the Yellow Soul was my favorite for creativity. Some of the bosses were more vicious than Undertale but its not a full game.

Glitched: Deserves a steam release. It's like Undertale with.a sysyem.that let's you spare or kill but its spare matrix requires allot more complex choices to thevpointbthere are branches then the story is just....bizzare and otherworldly. Reminds me of OFF/ HOME in that it's disturbing and yet cute.

Finally on Christmas an RP group friend from Discord gifted me Divinity Original Sin: Enhanced Eddition. It...I...One if the best games I've ever played. Tactical turn based battle system that uses an idea I had ages ago for a CBS but added a few things I'd never have thought of. Besides the battle system it's loaded with side quests and little bits tucked here and there. It uses crafting, sneaking, weapon durability and a speech craft system where your ally can argue with and even sabatoge you! Very immersive. @-@ I seriously was trying to backwards engineer that **** like crazy cause I could see a bunch of uses for it.The only complaint I have against it? It's encounters are linear and scripted. You can talk your way out of some if the sentient ones or pull a Skyrim and back off then pull out your bow load a poison or explosive arrow and then ...Boom. Sneak attack. A final note thr stat sheets are D&D detail oreinted to the point where every stat has to be thought put painstakingly or you could screw up your character massively.